Apparatus, system and method for associating one or more filter files with a particular multimedia presentation

ABSTRACT

A method, apparatus, computer program product and computer accessible code configured to link or otherwise associate content filters with a multimedia presentation, e.g., a movie. The content filter data includes an identifier value with an aspect ratio identifier or as a function of an aspect ratio for a particular multimedia presentation associated with the filter information. In one implementation, association between a filter set and a multimedia presentation involves a filtering application that searches a particular multimedia presentation to locate aspect ratio information and further searches filter information for a matching aspect ratio identifier.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application claiming priorityto copending U.S. nonprovisional application Ser. No. 12/761,293 filedApr. 15, 2010, which is a continuation of abandoned application Ser. No.11/379,180 filed Apr. 18, 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S.provisional application No. 60/672,914 titled “Apparatus, System, andMethod for Associating One or More Filter Files with a ParticularMultimedia Presentation,” filed Apr. 18, 2005, all of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein.

The present application is related to U.S. provisional application No.60/763,525 titled “Filtering a Multimedia Presentation in aVideo-on-Demand Environment,” filed Jan. 30, 2006, U.S. provisionalapplication No. 60/785,547 titled “Synchronizing Filter Meta-Data With aMultimedia Presentation,” filed Mar. 24, 2006, U.S. non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 11/104,924 titled “Apparatus, System, and Methodfor Filtering Objectionable Portions of a Multimedia Presentation,”filed Apr. 12, 2005, U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.11/256,419 titled “Method and User Interface for Downloading Audio andVideo Content Filters to a Media Player,” filed Oct. 20, 2005, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/327,103 titled “Media Player Configuredto Receive Playback Filters from Alternative Storage Mediums,” filedJan. 5, 2006, U.S. provisional application 60/620,902 titled “Method andUser Interface for Downloading Audio and Video Content Filters to aMedia Player” filed Oct. 20, 2004, U.S. provisional patent applicationNo. 60/641,678 titled “Video Player Configured to Receive PlaybackFilters from Alternative Storage Medium” filed Jan. 5, 2005, U.S.application Ser. No. 09/694,873 titled “Multimedia Content Navigationand Playback,” filed Oct. 23, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,799, issuedMay 24, 2005, and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/695,102 titled “Deliveryof Navigation Data for Playback of Audio and Video Content,” filed Oct.23, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,383, issued May 3, 2005, thedisclosure of each of the above-recited applications are herebyincorporated by reference herein. Appendix A, including 2 pages ofprogram code, is included with the present non-provisional applicationand is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention involve a system, method, and apparatusfor associating a filter file or set of filter files with a particularmultimedia presentation.

BACKGROUND

A multimedia presentation, such as audio provided on CD and a movieprovided on DVD, may contain certain language, images, scenes, or othercontent, not suitable or considered objectionable by certain audiences.To address this concern, certain technologies have been developed toallow filtering, such as skipping or muting, various types of content.This technology allows, for example, the viewing of a movie originallycontaining more adult-oriented content by younger, less mature viewers.Generally, the filtering function is provided by a media content“filter” resident within the DVD player that specifically applies to aparticular multimedia presentation. The filter, which is typicallystored within a nonvolatile logic memory of the media player, such asflash memory, indicates which portions of the multimedia presentationare to be skipped, or which audio portions are to be muted, by the DVDplayer during playback. Typically, whether the filter is employed for aparticular presentation of the multimedia may be determined by the userby way of a menu selection system provided by the media player. Further,different forms of objectionable content, such as profane language,sexually explicit content, and so on, may also be selectively filteredby way of the menu system. In some systems, the filtering system may beprotected by way of a user-defined password so that those not privy tothe password are unable to defeat the filtering mechanism.

Each filter specific to a particular presentation is typically producedat some point after a multimedia presentation has been released. Thus,for example, while some filters for preexisting movies may bepre-installed in the DVD player, the player normally also includes amethod of accepting and storing new filters as they are produced.Typically, filters are installed by way of a CD, DVD, or other discreadable by the same memory reader of the DVD player that also reads theDVD or other storage medium having the multimedia presentation.Therefore, a user inserts the disc containing the filters of interestinto the tray or slot normally employed for playback. The DVD player,recognizing the disc as one containing filters, installs the filtersfrom the disc, possibly at the guidance of the user by way of the playermenu system.

Besides use of multimedia title information and other multimediapresentation attributes, what is needed is a way to accurately associatea particular multimedia's filter set with the multimedia presentation,which may be in conjunction with employment of other attributes.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the present invention involves a computer program productcomprising a computer useable medium and computer readable code embodiedon the computer useable medium for identifying a multimedia presentationwith an associated aspect ratio, the computer readable code comprisingone or more filter files associated with the multimedia presentation,the filter files each identifying a portion of the multimediapresentation, each filter file further identifying a filtering actionfor the portion of the multimedia presentation. The computer readablecode further involves at least one data value configured to identify theaspect ratio of the multimedia presentation.

Another aspect of the present invention involves a computer programproduct comprising a computer useable medium and computer readable codeembodied on the computer useable medium for identifying a multimediapresentation with an associated aspect ratio, the computer readable codecomprising one or more filter files associated with the multimediapresentation, the filter files each identifying a portion of themultimedia presentation, each filter file further identifying afiltering action for the portion of the multimedia presentation. Thecomputer readable code further comprising at least one data valueconfigured as a function of at least the aspect ratio of the multimediapresentation.

Another aspect of the present invention involves a method forassociating a multimedia presentation with content filter information,the method comprising: obtaining content filtering data correspondingwith a particular multimedia presentation, the content filtering dataincluding at least one multimedia identifier, the multimedia identifierincluding at least one data value corresponding to an aspect ratio forthe multimedia presentation. The method further involves analyzing amultimedia presentation to determine an aspect ratio for the multimediapresentation and comparing the aspect ratio for the multimediapresentation to the at least one multimedia identifier. Finally, themethod involves applying the content filtering data to the multimediapresentation as function of the operation of comparing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of the format of one byte of a filter filemultimedia media identifier using a full screen aspect ratio identifier,conforming to aspects of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the format of one byte of a filter filemultimedia identifier using a wide screen aspect ratio identifier,conforming to aspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention involve a system, method, and apparatusfor associating a filter file or set of filter files with a particularmultimedia presentation based at least in part on aspect ratioinformation. Each multimedia presentation includes an identification ofthe aspect ratio or other video attribute, such as full screen or widescreen, for the multimedia presentation. Any filter file (or files)developed for the multimedia presentation includes coding with anidentifier of the aspect ratio for the multimedia presentation. The term“filter file” or filter as used herein is meant to refer to an indiciaof a portion of a multimedia presentation and an associated filteringaction. The filtering action may involve some form of contactsuppression, whether skipping, blurring, cropping, and/or mutingportions of the multimedia presentation. The portion of the multimediapresentation subject to suppression may be identified by a start and endtime code, by a time or location and offset value, and through othermultimedia relative identification means that provide for accurateidentification of some discrete portion of a multimedia presentation.One or more filter files for a particular multimedia presentation may beprovided in a “filter table.” A filter file or filter table configuredfor a particular multimedia presentation also includes an identificationof the aspect ratio for the particular multimedia presentation. Theaspect ratio identifier provides a way to associate a particular filterfile or table with a particular multimedia presentation. Othercharacteristics, besides the aspect ratio, may also be used, alone or inconjunction with the aspect ratio, to associate a particular filtertable with a particular multimedia presentation.

The filter file or table may be used along with a system, apparatus, andmethod for a user to play a multimedia presentation, such as a movieprovided on a DVD, a movie provided by way of a video-on-demand service,and other media types, coding arrangements, and distribution platforms,with objectionable types of scenes and language filtered (a “filteringapplication”). The filtering application monitors the playback of amultimedia presentation in comparison with one or more filter files, andfilters the playback as a function of the filter files. As referencedabove, filtering may involve some form of content suppression, such asmuting objectionable language in a multimedia presentation, skippingpast objectionable portions of a multimedia presentation as a functionof the time of the objectionable language or video, modifying thepresentation of a video image such as through cropping, or fading, orotherwise modifying playback to eliminate, reduce, or modify theobjectionable language, images, or other content. Filtering may furtherextend to other content that may be provided in a multimediapresentation, including close captioning text, data links, program guideinformation, etc.

The filtering application monitors playback of the multimediapresentation and compares playback with one or more filter files. In oneparticular implementation, the filtering application monitors time codesof the multimedia presentation being played. It is also possible tomonitor other indicia of the multimedia data read from the DVD, such asindicia of the physical location on a memory media from which the datawas read. In one particular implementation, filter file includes anindicia of portion of the multimedia presentation wherein the indiciacomprises a start time code and end time code. For any given multimediapresentation, a plurality of filter files are typically provided in afilter table. When there is match between the time code of themultimedia presentation and start time code of the filter file, then thefiltering application executes the specified filtering action. In oneexample, the specified filtering action includes a skip action or a muteaction, which causes the playback (both audio and video) of themultimedia presentation to stop at the start time and resume at the endtime or to mute the audio component between the start time and end time,respectively.

TABLE 1 Filter Types and Associated Description of Content of Scene foreach Filter Type Filter Filter Code Classification Filter type FilterAction V-S-A Violence Strong Action Violence Removes excessive violence,including fantasy violence V-B-G Violence Brutal/Gory Violence Removesbrutal and graphic violence scenes V-D-I Violence Disturbing ImagesRemoves gruesome and other disturbing images S-S-C Sex and SensualContent Removes highly suggestive and Nudity provocative situations anddialogue S-C-S Sex and Crude Sexual Content Removes crude sexuallanguage and Nudity gestures S-N Sex and Nudity Removes nudity,including partial and Nudity art nudity S-E-S Sex and Explicit SexualSituation Removes explicit sexual dialogue, Nudity sound and actionsL-V-D Language Vain Reference to Deity Removes vain or irreverentreference to Deity L-C-L Language Crude Language and Humor Removes crudesexual language and gestures L-E-S Language Ethnic and Social SlursRemoves ethnically or socially offensive results L-C Language CursingRemoves profane uses of “h*ll” and “d*mn” L-S-P Language StrongProfanity Removes swear words, including strong profanities L-G-VLanguage Graphic Vulgarity Removes graphic vulgarities, including “f***”O-E-D Other Explicit Drug Use Removes descriptive scenes of illegal druguse

Table 1 provides a list of examples of filter types that may be providedindividually or in combination in an embodiment conforming to theinvention. The filter types are grouped into five broad classifications,including: Violence, Sex/Nudity, Language, and Other. Within each of thefour broad classifications, are a listing of particular filter typesassociated with each broad classification. A particular filter file fora particular multimedia presentation includes an indicia of a portion ofthe multimedia presentation, which may be in the form of a time sequencebetween a start time and an end time, and an indicia of the subjectmatter falling within the specified time sequence. In one particularimplementation, a filter application causes multimedia time sequences tobe skipped or muted as a function of one or more user selectedparticular filter types, e.g., V-S-A. Alternatively, or additionally,multimedia time sequences may be skipped or muted as a function of abroad classification, e.g., V, in which case all portions of amultimedia presentation falling within a broad filter classificationwill be skipped or muted. Through the filtering application, a user mayactivate any combination of the particular filter types.

Further details concerning the filtering application and filter fileformatting are described in co-pending non-provisional application Ser.No. 11/104,924 titled “Apparatus, System, and Method for FilteringObjectionable Portions of a Multimedia Presentation” filed on Apr. 12,2005.

The filtering application may be accessible from a processor in amultimedia player, such as a DVD player. The filter application, in suchan arrangement, may be stored in a memory directly accessible by themultimedia processor or internal player memory. The filter tables forvarious multimedia presentations, on the other hand, are initiallystored remotely from the multimedia player. In one particularimplementation, the filter table for a particular multimediapresentation is loaded into memory of the multimedia player so that thefiltering application may access the filter table to perform filteredplayback of the multimedia presentation. To associate a particularfilter file or set of filter files (filter table) with a particularmultimedia presentation, aspect ratio information for the particularmultimedia presentation is associated with the particular filter file.Other information may also be used to associate the filter informationwith the particular multimedia information, such as multimedia titleinformation, multimedia length information, etc.

In the context of a DVD-based multimedia presentation, aspect ratioinformation for the multimedia presentation may be found in a directorycommonly referred to as a “Video TS directory.” The Video-TS directoryincludes a map of all titles stored on the DVD. “Titles” referring toDVD titles as defined in the DVD specification, which refers to ahierarchy of information on the DVD. The map is typically found in aparticular file referred to as a “VIDEO_TS.IFO” file. Amongst all of thetitles on the DVD will be the title file for the particular multimediapresentation associated with the filter file. Typically, the featurepresentation is title one of a DVD. Thus, the aspect ratio for title oneis identified. If the main movie title is not the first title, then theaspect ratio may be identified manually and by other means.

The aspect ratio information for the title of interest, e.g., title 1,is found at position 0x200 (hex) of a file referred to as a “VTS ##0.1F0” file, where ## represents the number of the title. Aspect ratioinformation is provided in a two byte format, with bits 2 and 3 relatingto the aspect ratio for the specified title. The combined value of bits2 and 3 is converted to an integer value. The VIDEO_TS.IFO file also hasaspect ratio information available at location 0x100. If the value ofthe integer equals zero (bit 2=0, bit 3=0) then the movie has an aspectratio of 4:3 (full-screen). If the value of the integer is three (bit2=1, bit 3=1), then the aspect ratio if 16:9 (widescreen). The codefound in Appendix A, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein,illustrates one particular method for parsing a DVD in order to identifythe aspect ratio for title one of the DVD. In this implementation, it ispresumed that title one of the DVD includes the feature presentation(i.e., the title with the data for the movie title (e.g., “Gladiator”)listed on the DVD) and for which a filter file may have been developed.

The aspect ratio information is provided in a computer readable mediahaving the filter files of the particular multimedia presentation. Thefilter files (filter table) for a particular multimedia presentation maybe provided on a removable memory media, such as CD, DVD, memory stick,etc. The filter files may also be transmitted or served from a remotememory location. In such an arrangement, it is possible for a user toaccess or purchase the filter files by way of a network location, suchas a web site. Such a method is described in co-pending U.S.non-provisional application Ser. No. 11/256,419, filed Oct. 20, 2005 andentitled “Method and User Interface for Downloading Audio and VideoContent Filters to a Media Player.” Upon purchase or identification of afilter table, the filter table is transmitted to the client device. Thefilter table may be transmitted and stored to a removable memory media,such as DVD, CD, floppy disk, memory stick, etc. From the removablememory media the filter table may be loaded to a multimedia playermemory for use by the filtering application or directly accessed fromthe removable memory. The client device may also be the target DVDplayer, in which case the filter table is directly uploaded to DVDplayer memory from the remote memory location. The filter files may alsobe loaded to a DVD player from other memory media, such as described inco-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/327,103, filed Jan. 5, 2006 andentitled “Media Player Configured to Receive Playback Filters fromAlternative Storage Mediums” The filter files are meant to be uploadedto a multimedia player or otherwise accessed by a multimedia player(e.g., DVD player) having a filtering application configured to use thefilter files in order to filter a multimedia presentation accessed bythe multimedia player.

The aspect ratio information encoded on a memory media and associatedwith a filter file or table for a multimedia presentation may beidentified in any number of ways. In one particular implementation, abit or bits are set in a specified arrangement and location. Forexample, a bit may be set to a digital 0 to represent a full screenaspect ratio, and a digital 1 to represent a wide screen aspect ratio.In another example, two bits may be set to digital 0 (i.e., 00 . . . )to represent a full screen aspect ratio or the same two bits set to adigital 1 (i.e., 11 . . . ) to represent a wide screen aspect ratio.

FIG. 1 represents a byte arrangement 10A for one particular filter table(e.g., a set of discrete filters for a particular movie), with the bytearranged to connote a filter file or table associated with a multimediapresentation provided in a full screen format. In this example, twoparticular bits (12, 14) of an 8-bit byte value are each set to adigital 0 to identify a full screen multimedia presentation. As shown inFIG. 1, the bits may be included in a larger byte. Typically, an 8-bitbyte identifies bits starting with bit 0 (16) in the right-most positionand bit 7 (18) in the left-most position. In this example, bits 7 and 6are each set to digital 0 to identify a full screen multimediapresentation. FIG. 2 illustrates a byte arrangement 10B for oneparticular filter set, with the byte arranged to connote a filter fileor table associated with a multimedia presentation provided in a widescreen format. In FIG. 2, the same 8-bit byte of FIG. 1 has bits 7 and 6set to digital 11 to identify a wide screen multimedia presentation. Thesame or different bytes may be used to identify different aspect ratio.Further, other bit combinations are possible to identify full screen andwide screen aspects ratios, as well as other possible video attributesof a particular multimedia presentation. It is also possible to simplyset one bit as either 0 (full screen) or 1 (wide screen).

Other bits in the specified byte (i.e., bits 0-6 may be used for otherpurposes or serve as padding). The aspect ratio bit, bits, or byte maybe included in a larger set of identifying data or may be providedseparately therefrom. Moreover, it is also possible to set various bitsor provide identifying values where aspect ratio information is used togenerate the identifier in conjunction with other multimedia attributes,such as title information.

The filtering application, resident in a DVD player in one example, isconfigured to read the aspect ratio information for whatever multimediapresentation is placed in the DVD drive, such as through the codeprovided in Appendix A. The filtering application then compares theaspect ratio information for the multimedia presentation with the aspectratio information for any filter table loaded in memory or otherwiseaccessible by the multimedia player configured to run the filteringapplication. The filtering application uses the aspect ratio informationto determine if the appropriate filter file or files are loaded inmemory. If there is not a match between a particular filter file ortable and a particular multimedia presentation, then the filter file ortable is not a match to the particular multimedia presentation. Asmentioned above, the filtering application may use other information, aswell, to determine if a particular filter table corresponds with aselected multimedia presentation.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also includecomputer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executableinstructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readablemedia may be any available media that can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,DVD, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Wheninformation is transferred or provided over a network or anothercommunications link or connection (either hardwired, wireless, or acombination of hardwired or wireless) to a computer, the computerproperly views the connection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, anysuch a connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media. Computer-executable instructions comprise, forexample, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer,special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device toperform a certain function or group of functions.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also includecomputer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executableinstructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readablemedia may be any available media that can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM, DVD, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.Implementations of the present invention may be stored as computerreadable instructions on a DVD along with a multimedia presentationintended to be filtered and played back with various time sequencesmuted or skipped. When information is transferred or provided over anetwork or another communications link or connection (either hardwired,wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computer (acomputer data signal), the computer properly views the connection as acomputer-readable medium. Thus, any such a connection is properly termeda computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media. Computerexecutable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and datawhich cause a DVD player, a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certainfunction or group of functions.

Although not required, aspects of the invention may be deployed ascomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, adapted fordeploying a filter file that may be readable and usable by a filterapplication loaded on a DVD player. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, andprogram modules represent examples of the program code means forexecuting steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequenceof such executable instructions or associated data structures representexamples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions describedin such steps. Furthermore, program code means being executed by aprocessing unit provides one example of a processor means.

APPENDIX A

The following program code calls the function to get the aspect ratiofor a feature presentation found in title 1 of a DVD and returns a valueof the aspect ratio for the feature multimedia presentation found intitle 1

// Read title 1 and retrieve the video attributes flag shortvideoAttributes = ReadVideoAttributes(dvdDrive); // test bits 2 & 3videoAttributes = (short)((videoAttributes & 0x0C) >> 2); private staticshort ReadVideoAttributes(string dvdPath) { string ifoPath =string.Format(@“{0}VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO”, dvdPath); FileStream fileIfo;if (!File.Exists(ifoPath)) return 0; fileIfo = new FileStream(ifoPath,FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read); // Find out which VTS is Title 1.fileIfo.Position = 0xC4; // Find VMG_PTT_SRPT int titleMapOffset = 0;byte[ ]buffer = new byte[25]; byte vts = 0; // Find out the location ofthe title map fileIfo.Read(buffer, 0, 4); titleMapOffset =ClearPlay.Convert.ReverseInt(System.BitConverter.ToInt32(buffer, 0));titleMapOffset *= 2048; // Read the title map, and get the VTS of title1 fileIfo.Position = titleMapOffset; fileIfo.Read(buffer, 0, 20); vts =buffer[0x0E]; fileIfo.Close( ); ifoPath =string.Format(@“{0}VIDEO_TS\VTS_{1:D2}_0.IFO”, dvdPath, vts); fileIfo =new FileStream(ifoPath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read); shortvideoAttributes = 0; // Read the video attributes fileIfo.Position =0x200; fileIfo.Read(buffer, 0, 2); videoAttributes =System.BitConverter.ToInt16(buffer, 0); return videoAttributes; } }

I claim:
 1. A computer program product comprising: a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium and computer readable code embodied onthe computer useable medium, the computer readable code comprising: oneor more filter files associated with a multimedia presentation, thefilter files each associated with at least one portion of the multimediapresentation, each filter file further associated with at least onefiltering action for the at least one portion of the multimediapresentation, the filtering action including at least one of a skipping,blurring, and muting filter action for the associated at least oneportion of the multimedia presentation, at least one filter fileassociated with an indicia of a subject matter type of the at least oneportion of the multimedia presentation; and the one or more filter filesassociated with a unique identifier by which the multimedia presentationmay be identified, the unique identifier generated by analyzingattributes of the multimedia presentation, the unique identifieruniquely distinguishing the multimedia presentation so that a filterfile for a different multimedia presentation is not selected to apply tothe multimedia presentation, the one or more filter files to be appliedto the multimedia presentation by executing the at least one filteringaction based at least on an indicia of the viewer preference for thesubject matter type when the at least one data value corresponds withthe multimedia presentation.
 2. The computer program product of claim 1wherein: the attributes of the multimedia presentation includes a lengthof the multimedia presentation.
 3. The computer program product of claim1 wherein the computer readable medium comprises a DVD.
 4. The computerprogram product of claim 1 wherein the multimedia presentation comprisesa movie.
 5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the one ormore filter files are associated with at least one portion of themultimedia presentation with two time codes indicators or with time codeindicators and corresponding offset values.
 6. The computer programproduct of claim 1 wherein the one or more filter files are associatedwith at least one portion of the multimedia presentation with a starttime code and an end time code.
 7. The computer program product of claim1 wherein the indicia of the subject matter type of the at least oneportion of the multimedia presentation indicates offensive subjectmatter.
 8. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the indiciaof the subject matter type of the at least one portion of the multimediapresentation indicates subject matter of at least one of profanity,violence, or nudity.
 9. A system comprising: at least one processorconfigured to analyze attributes of a multimedia presentation togenerate a unique identifier for linking filter files specific to themultimedia presentation, the unique identifier uniquely distinguishingthe multimedia presentation from other multimedia presentations withcontent filtering data so that an incorrect filter file is not selectedfor the multimedia presentation; the at least one processor furtherconfigured to, for a selected multimedia presentation with attributesassociated with the unique identifier, select one or more filter filesassociated with the selected multimedia presentation and associated withthe unique identifier, the filter files each associated with at leastone portion of the selected multimedia presentation, each filter filefurther associated with at least one filtering action for the portion ofthe selected multimedia presentation, the filtering action includingskipping, blurring and/or muting portions of the selected multimediapresentation, at least one filter file associated with an indicia of asubject matter type of the portion of the selected multimediapresentation; and the one or more filter files to be applied to theselected multimedia presentation by executing the at least one filteringaction based at least on an indicia of a viewer preference for thesubject matter type.
 10. The system of claim 9 wherein: the attributesrepresents a length of the multimedia presentation.
 11. The system ofclaim 9 wherein the computer useable medium comprises an optical disc.12. The system of claim 9 wherein the multimedia presentation comprisesa movie.
 13. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the one ormore filter files are associated with at least one portion of themultimedia presentation with two time codes indicators or with time codeindicators and corresponding offset values.
 14. The computer programproduct of claim 9 wherein the one or more filter files are associatedwith at least one portion of the multimedia presentation with a starttime code and an end time code.
 15. The computer program product ofclaim 9 wherein the indicia of the subject matter type of the at leastone portion of the multimedia presentation indicates offensive subjectmatter.
 16. A method for associating a multimedia presentation withcontent filter information comprising: analyzing attributes of amultimedia presentation to uniquely identify content filtering dataspecific to the multimedia presentation and to distinguish themultimedia presentation from all other multimedia presentations withcontent filtering data; for a particular multimedia presentation withattributes uniquely identifying the multimedia presentation, accessingthe content filtering data corresponding with the particular multimediapresentation, the content filtering data associated with at least aportion of the multimedia presentation and a filtering action for theportion of the multimedia presentation, the filtering action associatedwith at least one of skipping and muting the portion of the multimediapresentation, the content filtering data associated with at least onemultimedia identifier and associated with an indicia of a subject mattertype of the portion of the multimedia presentation; and applying theuniquely identified content filtering data to the multimediapresentation; executing the filtering action based at least on anindicia of the viewer preference for the subject matter type, whereinapplying the content filtering data enables the at least one of skippingand muting the portion of the multimedia presentation.
 17. A multimediaplayer including a processor configured to perform the operations ofclaim
 16. 18. The method of 16 wherein one of the attributes includesmultimedia length information of the multimedia presentation.
 19. Themethod of claim 16 wherein the one or more filter files are associatedwith at least one portion of the multimedia presentation with two timecodes indicators or with time code indicators and corresponding offsetvalues.
 20. The method of claim 16 wherein the one or more filter filesare associated with at least one portion of the multimedia presentationwith a start time code and an end time code.
 21. The method of claim 16wherein the indicia of the subject matter type of the at least oneportion of the multimedia presentation indicates subject matter at leastone of profanity, violence, or nudity.